Coexisting in Black Bear Country

Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - “This is black bear country. It has always been black bear country. North Cortes Island is likely the most populated with bears. They can travel very far in one day and swim up to five miles, especially in salt water. They do travel from island to island and there are likely year round bears here. In the fall of 2019, there was a bear sighted at Blue Jay Lake. Then in April 2020, there was a black bear around Green Mountain. Since then, we’ve had these conflicts with two bears: one in Whaletown and one in Squirrel Cove,” said Autumn Barrett-Morgan, a volunteer co-ordinator with the Friends of Cortes Island’s wildlife COEXistence program.

The Whaletown bear she mentioned was killed during the summer.

On November 28th, a Conservation Officer arrived on Cortes Island to kill the Squirrel Cove Bear.

Barret-Morgan explained, “The Conservation Officer was called by someone in Squirrel Cove. This resident was feeling very fearful, so the Conservation Officer had no choice but to bring a trap here. Once the bear is trapped, it will be put down.”

The Squirrel Cove Bear has been raiding a number of the houses, backing onto Basil Creek, for a little more than a month. It was drawn by the spawning salmon, but the inviting aromas of apples, compost and variety of other attractants brought it onto human properties.

“At this time of year, a bear needs to eat 20,000 calories a day. We had a fairly good salmon return this year … and there is evidence of bears being down in Basil Creek. They have the best nose on the planet. They can smell up to a kilometre away and will eat anything they can get their paws on,” said Barret-Morgan.

Was a human/bear conflict inevitable?
“No, this definitely did not have to happen,” said Barrett-Morgan.

There is an abundance of year-round wild foods for bears on Cortes. There are roots and shoots in the Spring: like horse tails, skunk cabbage, sedges, grasses, nettles, dandelions and late spring salmon berries. Summer brings shrubs, grubs, insects and blackberries. Salmon runs are the #1 food source in the Fall. Year round, bears eat barnacles, muscles, clams and crabs etc.

“They have year round food sources here, that is why Cortes is prime bear habitat, said Barret-Morgan.

Unfortunately, bears follow their noses when searching for food – and that is what brought the Squirrel Cove Bear to all the food waiting in the habitations backing onto Basil Creek.

“Once it was rewarded with apples, fish fertilizer, compost, bird feeders and this sort of thing, there was a conflict. The bear will keep returning to a spot where it knows it can get food.”

In the podcast above, Autumn Barrett Morgan explains why she knows situation like this can be prevented and how Cortes Island can coext with bears